to ensure that auditors registered from 1 December 2005 on the basis of the CPA/ICAA competency standard, as approved by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on 24 November 2004, are validly registered with effect from the date of their purported registration.

to transition Innovation Australia to become Innovation and Science Australia, an independent body responsible for strategic advice on all industry, innovation, science and research matters; and create a statutory framework to provide legislative authority for Commonwealth spending activities in relation to industry, innovation, science and research programs. Also makes consequential amendments to five Acts.

to give legislative effect to the Agreement between Australia and the Federal Republic of Germany for the Elimination of Double Taxation with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion and Avoidance and its Protocol, signed at Berlin on 12 November 2015; and the

to: enable the minister to appoint any state or territory registrar as the Registrar of Deaths Abroad (the registrar); validate the prior appointment of the ACT Registrar-General as the registrar and validate any previous registrations of deaths; enable the registrar to register death that could have been registered under the law of a state or territory, where the state or territory concerned has provided notice that it will not register a death; and ensure that only the registrar can register deaths.

Amends: 100 Acts to replace references to penalties expressed as a number of dollars with penalties expressed as a number of penalty units; 27 Acts to replace references to ‘maximum penalty’ with references to ‘penalty’; 32 Acts to provide that provisions relating to the evidentiary status of a certificate (or other instrument or register) clearly provide that it is prima facie evidence of the matters stated in it; and the

Antarctic Treaty (Environment Protection) Act 1980

,

Crimes (Aviation) Act 1991

,

Crimes (Currency) Act 1981

and

Maritime Powers Act 2013

to update references to aircraft registered in accordance with the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988.

Introduced with the Narcotic Drugs (Licence Charges) Bill 2016, the bill amends the

Narcotic Drugs Act 1967

to: protect sensitive law enforcement information that may be disclosed by law enforcement agencies for the purposes of regulatory action relating to medicinal cannabis licences, cannabis research licences and manufacture licences; introduce an offence for the unauthorised disclosure of sensitive law enforcement information in certain circumstances; clarify that cannabis research licence holders can supply seeds to licensed cultivators; enable the minister to make standards and guidelines; enable the making of regulations to specify periods within which the secretary must notify licence holders of certain matters; provide for the timing of payments of fees and charges; and enable the pro-rating refund, waiving, reduction or remission of fees; and the

Therapeutic Goods Act 1989

to enable regulations to be made prescribing the circumstances in which the use of medicinal cannabis products can be authorised.